Paul Flowers steps down from Terrence Higgins Trust’s board of trustees amid drug revelations
Following revelations about his private life, former Co-op bank chairman Paul Flowers has stepped down from his role on the board of trustees at Terrence Higgins Trust.
On Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for the sexual health and HIV charity said: “I confirm that Rev Paul Flowers has stepped down from his role as trustee, a position he has held for just under two years. We can not make any further comment at this time.”
Mr Flowers joined the charity’s board of trustees in 2011. Trustees are unpaid members of the charity, and do not claim a salary.
Yesterday, the 63-year-old apologised after he was filmed allegedly buying drugs.
The Methodist minister and former Bradford City councillor said his actions were “stupid” and “wrong”. He has been suspended from both the Labour Party and his church.
Mr Flowers is also a former chair of drugs charity Lifeline.
The Mail on Sunday published footage showing Mr Flowers discussing a purchase of cocaine and crystal meth from a dealer in Leeds.
He was exposed to the paper by Stuart Davies, a 26-year-old man he’d met on Grindr at the beginning of October.
Mr Flowers was the £132,000-a-year chairman of the Co-op Bank from 2010 until May this year when he stepped down as the bank narrowly avoided financial collapse.
On 6 November, Mr Flowers was grilled by MPs on the Treasury Select Committee over the bank’s disastrous performance.
He told the committee the Co-op’s balance sheets had £3bn of assets, when it was actually £47bn.
He also failed to answer questions about the amount of loans on the bank’s books.
Geoff Reid, a Lib Dem councillor in Bradford and retired Methodist minister who has known Mr Flowers for 30 years, told BBC Radio 5 live: “He [Mr Flowers] can be very generous, very gifted as a speaker either in the pulpit or the council chamber, and at the same time he can be subject to incredible lack of judgement.
“I don’t think the Co-operative Bank got the political nous they thought they were paying for.”
